Idle Thoughts
by paynesgrey
Summary: Sierra feels differently toward Echo, leading to many other confusing thoughts. Echo x Sierra. Oneshot.


Idle Thoughts

The white is gone, and Sierra opens her eyes. She blinks and feels warmth that makes her smile. She rises lightly from a chair and heads out the door. The treatment is over. The white blankets her and feels soft, and her mind is free of noise. She strides through the door and a thought flutters across her inert mind.  
Sierra heads to the showers one foot in front of the other, and she smiles at another exiting, and his smell invades her senses. She closes her eyes and inhales deeply. It's a floral scent that clings to all of them.

Sierra almost bumps into another when lost in thought. She pivots, backtracking as the other catches her eye.

"Hello, Sierra," Echo smiles at her. She looks as content as Sierra feels. Sierra smiles back.

"Hello, Echo." It's time for her shower too. Sierra feels warmer. It's better when they are together. She's had this feeling since she's met Echo. A few passing words mean something, but Echo's smile means more. Echo's bright eyes and sweeping motion intrigues her. She's familiar, and yet she and Echo have little to say. They meet eyes before they shower, before one enters the Treatment and the other exits, and after they wake up in the morning, refreshed and ready for yoga class.

But Sierra always feels there's something more. Sure, she likes Echo. She's very sweet and kind and has a pleasant face. Yet, she's never wanted to know anything more about her until recently.

Once, she came back for a treatment and Echo was looking at her. She wasn't smiling. It was odd. Her brow was scrunched up and her pretty brown eyes seemed darker, colder, as if something was wrong.  
There is never anything wrong with Echo. Not that Sierra can remember.

Today Echo seems content, and Sierra watches her in the corner of her eye, looking for that strange unusual expression to grace her pretty face. When it does not occur, Sierra moves closer.

The water for both their showers sprays them almost in sync. It feels hot at first and Sierra jumps when she realizes she's lost focus. She's been thinking too much about Echo and not her own cleanliness. She turns back to her task and washes.

She smells the light floral soap and turns to her right. She meets Echo's eyes as she hands her the bottle. "Here."

They've shared the soap before and Sierra has thought nothing of it. Until now. "Thank you," she answers back with a smile.

Then, she stares. Echo returns to her shower, and she scrubs the soap over her skin. It covers her in a bubbling film, and Sierra watches the motion as the water streams the soap suds down, over her perfect skin, dripping over her curves and angles. Sierra's gaze stops as the soap glistens on the small of Echo's back.

Sierra leans in closer to watch the suds on Echo's skin. She comes so close she can almost taste the soapy bitterness on her lips. She closes her eyes and inhales. Her lips touch the wetness, and she slides them over her shoulder. She feels muscles tense under her mouth.

Sierra stands back, and the two women meet eyes. "Oh!" Sierra says. Echo watches her with fascination. She cocks her head to the side. Sierra knows the apology is at the tip of her tongue, but she cannot process it. What is she saying sorry for?

Echo gives her a light smile as if nothing unsettling has gone wrong. She turns back to her bathing, and Sierra can only frown. She turns away. She feels somewhat embarrassed. She shouldn't look at another this way. She shouldn't touch her like that either. They bathe together like this every day. This time is no different.

And still Sierra is bothered because this is Echo, and she feels connected to her. She feels that there's more to passing her in the hall or standing next to her on the yoga mat. There's more. She can feel it, even if nothing in her mind comes to the front. She pauses and ponders, and she tries to reach for something that can connect the heat she's feeling for Echo with any elusive words in her head.  
There's nothing. Not even a snap and she's left confused and disoriented.

She's suddenly shaken out of her thoughts. A soft, wet hand touches her shoulder. "Sierra, are you alright?" She faces Echo again. The water streams over her eyes as if she's looking at her through a rainy window. Something sparks in her brain as she meets Echo's eyes.

The concern is in her face again. Her brow scrunches like that time before.

"No, it's nothing. I just feel tired today," Sierra says with a weak smile. She turns and lathers up the soap on her hands.

"Perhaps you should go see the doctor." Echo touches her again, and Sierra feels more than her face getting hot.

What is this feeling? No other has made her feel this way before.  
Sierra turns to her with a smile. "Your skin looks really pretty," she says, and Echo blinks in surprise but then smiles.

"Thank you. You look very clean," Echo says. Sierra nods her head.

"I suppose I am."

"Do you want to play checkers with me after you are done?" Echo suggests. Sierra looks over her shoulder to the playing table in the floor above, empty and ready for idle players.

"Of course," Sierra agrees. She watches Echo move to exit the shower, lifting a clean towel and wrapping it around her body. Sierra tries not to stare, and she turns to the shower wall and sighs.

The feeling is strange, but Sierra knows it's not unnatural. She'd ask the doctor for advice, but when she thinks of the doctor's possible answer, she gets a sick feeling in her stomach.

Maybe they can take the weird feeling away? Maybe once it's gone, she can look at Echo again and see just another, like her, who smiles and lives and doesn't question thoughts in her head that have no destination.  
They could give her a Treatment, and she could be soaked up in white and then she wouldn't want to touch Echo anymore. She wouldn't want to kiss her clean, glistening skin.

Her stomach aches, and she shuts off the shower. There is no point in delaying this activity anymore. She's finished and the feeling of water over her body only makes the strange thoughts stronger.

And she still doesn't know if the thoughts are good or bad. Sierra casts a contemplative look toward the doctor's office.

Does she really want these thoughts and feelings to go away? Sierra ponders. Maybe, but not quite yet.

END


End file.
